June 17, 2025 • 52 mins
Our worldview shapes what we think, how we live, and the kind of culture we create. So when our communities bear bitter fruit—poverty, corruption, injustice—we need to look at the roots below the surface. In this episode, we explore how worldviews are formed, how they shape entire societies, and why true transformation comes from working at this level.
Too often, Christian mission stops at conversion and overlooks the need for deep worldview discipleship, leaving people with many unbiblical cultural assumptions. Lasting change comes when our minds are renewed, leading to flourishing not only in our lives, but also in our families and nations as we live into God's design.
Main Topics:
- What Is a Worldview? – How it forms and why it matters
- Ideas Flow Downstream – From philosophers to principles to lifestyles
- Rooted in Truth – How biblical worldview transforms hearts and societies
It starts with us. We must intentionally think and act differently than the world, based on the reality of God’s Kingdom.
- Core Video: Why Does Your Worldview Matter?
- Our Strategy at DNA
- View the transcript, leave comments, and check out recommended resources on the Episode Landing Page!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Scott Allen (00:03):
There's a variety of forms of worship, a variety
of world views in the world,right, but they all aren't true
and there's only one.
That's true, and that seemskind of like an arrogant thing
to say, but when you think aboutit in a different way, it's not
at all.
There's only one world.
We only live in one world,right, you know.
Tim Williams (00:19):
So that's what we have in common, this world that
we live in, and you can see itrightly, correctly accurately,
or you can see it in a waythat's completely distorted, and
I don't think a lot of people,even Christian believers, think
about how they're formed by thattype of thinking, because it
impacts.
When do they have children?
When do they get married?
(00:39):
How many children do they have?
How do they view and value thefamily?
How much do they work?
What kind of a job?
How much do they relocate?
How much do they rest?
What is it that they findfulfilling?
So, again, all of these thingsare just kind of in these
unconscious thoughts and they'reforming daily decisions and
habits and generations of people, generations of people.
Luke Allen (01:09):
Hi, friends, welcome back to another episode of
Ideas have Consequences.
Here on the show, we examinehow our mission as Christians is
to not only spread the gospelaround the world, to all the
nations, but our mission alsoincludes being the hands and
feet of God to transform thenations to increasingly reflect
the truth, goodness and beautyof God's kingdom.
Tragically, the church haslargely neglected this second
(01:31):
part of her mission and todaymost Christians have little
influence on their surroundingcultures.
Join us on this podcast as werediscover what it means for
each of us to disciple thenations and to create
Christ-honoring cultures thatreflect the character of the
living God.
Hey guys, a quick FYI before weget started the nations and to
create Christ-honoring culturesthat reflect the character of
the living God.
Hey guys, a quick FYI before weget started.
Today's going to sound a bitunique because we're actually
going to be doing a video reviewepisode and, since this is an
(01:53):
audio-only podcast, youobviously can't watch us react
to the video.
So if you want to visualizethis episode, then all you have
to do is pull up the video thatwe're highlighting today, which
is linked in the episodedescription and is also on
YouTube, and the video is called.
Why Does your Worldview MatterAgain, to find it, just click on
the link in the description, oryou can search it on YouTube
(02:13):
yourself.
Enjoy.
Scott Allen (02:17):
Well, welcome again everyone to another episode of
Ideas have Consequences.
This is the podcast of theDisciple Nations Alliance.
My name is Scott Allen, I'm thepresident of the DNA and I'm
joined today by my co-workersand dear friends.
Tim Williams, all the way fromNorth Carolina, great to be here
.
John Bottimore, joining us fromthe sunny state of Florida
today.
Hi, john and Luke Allen.
(02:38):
Hey, luke, good to see you aswell.
Luke Allen (02:40):
Yeah.
Scott Allen (02:41):
Looking forward to our discussion.
Luke, why don't you tee it upfor us today what we're going to
be talking about?
Luke Allen (02:46):
Yeah, sure, yeah.
This is kind of a fun episode,guys, that we've been hoping to
do for a little while.
This has been a project of oursthat we've worked on for about
three years and essentially theproject is we're calling it the
Core Message Video Project andfor the last 30 years of the DNA
we've had this kind of basicteaching of the DNA that the
guys have traveled around theworld teaching.
That we have turned into ourfirst basics course.
(03:09):
Now we call it the Kingdomizer101.
So just the core DNA teaching,what we're all about here at the
Disciple Nations Alliance.
We wanted to turn that intosomething even more digestible
shorter, more compact, concise.
So we decided to go with shortanimated videos, because they're
great at explaining concepts indepth and yet a great way also
to condense things and make themas digestible as possible for
(03:31):
everyone.
So that's a project that westarted about four years ago.
Now We've broken up all of ourcore teaching into five videos,
all of which are about fiveminutes or shorter, and today we
just wanted to go over thefirst video with you guys.
This is a video that's been upon YouTube for a couple years
now.
It's called why Does yourWorldview Matter?
It's one of our most popularvideos, but we just wanted to
break this video down for youguys because it is dense.
(03:53):
We'll admit that it's only 4minutes and 20 seconds, but it
packs a punch and it explainswhat worldview is.
It explains why we all have aworldview why does worldview
matter and then it kind ofsummarizes with why the biblical
worldview is the only one thatactually works in this world and
if we want to see free,flourishing, thriving nations,
(04:14):
then a biblical worldview is theonly way for us to bring us
there.
So there's a lot of informationthere.
I know those things I justexplained right there.
You're probably already askingquestions what do you mean by
that?
How can you say that?
Those kind of questions.
But we'll break that all downtoday.
So, again, it's called why doesyour worldview matter?
And this video is soon going tobe.
The reason we're doing thistoday is because this is soon
(04:34):
going to be part of our newbasic training here at Disciple
Nations Alliance.
We're actually taking thattraining that we've been
teaching for almost 30 yearsaround the world and we're going
to be giving it a new update, a2025 edition update, maybe 2026
and this video will be a partof it.
So, uh, we hope that you guysenjoy the discussion well, why
don't we do this?
Scott Allen (04:53):
here's how we're going to run this today.
We're going to go ahead andshow the video in its entirety,
and then we're going to go backand we're going to watch it in
segments and comment on it.
So, luke, with that, why don'tyou go ahead and get that teed
up here and we can watch it?
Video Narrator (05:10):
We hear a lot about culture these days,
everything from culture wars tocancel culture.
But what exactly is culture?
In the broadest sense, cultureis simply the way we do things.
In the broadest sense, cultureis simply the way we do things.
Culture describes a group'svalues, customs and behaviors,
whether the group is a family, abusiness, an organization, a
(05:37):
community or an entirecivilization.
At the root of every culture isa deep system of belief or a
form of worship.
This isn't surprising.
People are hardwired to worship.
The object of our worship maybe God, or it could be the self,
or we might worship government,nature or our ancestors.
(06:02):
Another word for these deepbelief systems is worldview.
Worldview, which is simply a wayof seeing reality.
A worldview is composed of,often unconscious, ideas or
assumptions that provide answersto life's most important
questions.
The answer to these worldviewquestions provide order and
meaning to our lives, whetherthey're true or not.
(06:23):
But from where do our answersto these questions come from?
Many of our beliefs are assumed, acquired in our earliest years
.
At a deeper level, ourworldviews come from the ideas
and philosophies of keyhistorical figures.
Their powerful philosophies arepicked up by artists, who
(06:44):
convey them in songs, literature, paintings, poetry and film.
These in turn influencecultural gatekeepers in
universities, public education,business, government,
entertainment and law.
They institutionalize theworldview in curricula, policies
and laws and we absorb it.
(07:04):
Why does this all matter?
Because worldview shapeseverything we think and do, and
what we do shapes the worldaround us.
It turns out.
Nothing is more practical andmore central than worldview.
We can think of our worldviewlike the roots of a tree
underground and hidden fromsight.
The trunk represents our values.
(07:27):
The branches are behaviors andactions.
Our behaviors and actions inturn shape our lives and the
world around us.
This is the fruit.
Sadly, the world around us isfilled with bitter fruit.
This is unacceptable.
As Christians, we are called togive ourselves to change the
(07:48):
world for the better.
But in order to change thefruit, we have to change the
root.
Genuine social transformationrequires a change of culture, a
change of worldview, and thischange must start with us.
The Bible speaks of this inmany ways.
We are admonished to think withthe mind of Christ, to take
(08:12):
captive every thought, to makeit obedient to Christ, to be
transformed by the renewing ofour minds.
In short, we are to think andact differently, not according
to the beliefs, values and normsof our surrounding culture, but
according to reality aspresented in God's word and the
(08:34):
culture of God's kingdom.
This worldview transformationdoesn't happen automatically.
It must be intentional and ittakes time, often years.
This is because we areprofoundly shaped by our
surrounding culture, yet we arenot imprisoned within it, nor
are we defined by it.
God has given us all.
(09:01):
We need to be transformed bythe renewing of our minds.
He has given us His Word, hisHoly Spirit and the Spirit of
Truth who guides us into alltruth, and brothers and sisters
in Christ to walk and learn withus.
But we must decide to take thefirst step.
In order to transform the world,we have to be transformed
ourselves, and this begins atthe level of worldview of
(09:39):
worldview and continue to watchit at about 70 people a day.
So it's been fun to see thatpeople are enjoying this video,
absorbing it.
It's getting shared around, sothat's encouraging for us and we
hope that people are reallylearning a lot from this.
I do know for myself, eventhough I'm around this teaching
all the time, if I watch thatvideo and I'm not cued in, I
miss a lot of it.
So today we're going to try tobreak this video down for you
(10:02):
guys, to make it a little bitmore digestible as best as
possible and hopefully shedlight on some of the concepts in
here that, yeah, there's just alot of meaning to them.
You know, some of these thingslike like it says, a biblical
worldview is the only one thatbuilds free and flourishing
nations.
Why is that?
You know?
(10:22):
How can you say that?
So we're going to try to breakdown some of those big questions
and statements that this videomakes.
So to do that, we'll just watchit through in little snippets
and give some dialogue along theway.
So I hope this is helpful foryou guys, and I just wanted to
give a shout out to our animatedvideographer, samuel Felix,
good friend of ours from down inBrazil who was the one that
(10:43):
made this video.
He is a genius when it comes tothis stuff of taking concepts
and portraying them in visualformat.
So great work, samuel.
You might be listening rightnow.
Thank you for this video.
We really enjoy it.
All right, let's hop back intoit.
We hear a lot about culturethese days, everything from
culture wars to cancel culturebut what exactly is culture?
(11:08):
In the broadest sense, cultureis simply the way we do things.
Culture describes a group'svalues, customs and behaviors,
whether the group is a family, abusiness, an organization, a
community or an entirecivilization.
All right, I'm just going topause it there.
Why culture, guys?
(11:29):
Why are we starting withculture?
This video is called why Doesyour Worldview Matter?
And yet the first thing we wantto talk about here is culture.
I love this really simpleexplanation of culture, which it
says here is just the way we dothings around here.
That makes so much sense to me.
Oftentimes, I think we getconfused with that definition of
culture the very broad one andthe more kind of specific
(11:50):
cultural heritage, culturalfashion, form, cuisine, that
type of culture that's morespecific.
But culture just broadly isreally just the way we do things
around here.
So again, guys, why are westarting with culture?
Scott Allen (12:03):
Well, I think, you know, I think starting with
culture is important because ourfaith as Christians is, you
know, we tend to, at the timethat we live in right now, as
evangelical Christians, we tendto think very personally and
individually and we don't thinkin terms of culture.
In fact, there's a lot ofpushback, even if you talk about
(12:24):
culture as it relates to themission of the church, you know.
But the faith, if it'sfaithfully lived out, our faith,
needs to become a culture.
It needs to become a way ofdoing things, whether, again,
that's in a family or in anentire nation.
Culture matters.
(12:45):
You know, christianfaithfulness, I think, in some
ways is measured by whether itactually becomes a culture.
And there's something deeplywrong when cultures, the ways of
doing things, are destructiveor unchristian and yet there's a
lot of Christians in thatculture.
Like something's wrong there.
Yeah, just echoing that, Scott.
John Bottimore (13:04):
Something's wrong there.
Yeah, Just echoing that, Scott,we will talk about
transformation later.
That's so critical that ifwe're going to be doing things
consistent with our faith andconsistent with Scripture, we
have to have that transformation.
Back to your fundamentalquestion culture is the way we
do things, and we can also sayculture is first the way we
(13:24):
think about.
And we can also say culture isfirst the way we think about
things and then do them, becausehow we think affects how we do
and, as the video says, values,customs, behaviors, etc.
Are all driven by how we thinkof culture.
So the core questions are well,where do these things come from
?
What influences, both timelessand changing, affect what we
(13:46):
think and do in culture, andthat's why what we're going to
talk about here is so, soimportant, so incredibly
practical, much more so thanjust philosophical.
Tim Williams (13:56):
Yeah, I would just echo what everybody else is
already saying.
I mean, you know one thing Ithink about with culture, which
is so influential in what we doevery day?
It is culture.
Culture is like our unthinkinglife, Like this is just
automatic.
It's what we do.
We don't analyze it, but it isthe way things are, it's how we
(14:20):
think when we're not thinking.
Yeah, well said Tim.
Yeah, really great point wethink when we're not thinking
yeah, well said Tim.
Yeah, really really great point.
Yeah, yeah, so this is really,you know that we talk about
culture because it's what'shappening all the time, it's
automatic, and what we're sayingis culture is really important,
but you don't get to whatdrives culture and what really
(14:43):
drives people until you get intothe belief system through which
they're seeing the world,through which they're creating
their culture.
And we really, you know, justwant to call people to think at
that deep level and reallyreally make some analysis there
so that they can experience thefruit and the transformation
(15:05):
that they desire to see.
Scott Allen (15:07):
Yeah, well said, tim, well said.
Video Narrator (15:09):
Yeah, I'm glad we started there.
All right, let's keep going.
Luke Allen (15:14):
At the root of every culture is a deep system of
belief or a form of worship.
This isn't surprising.
People are hardwired to worship.
The object of our worship maybe God, or it could be the self,
or we might worship government,nature or our ancestors.
Video Narrator (15:36):
Okay, I just got to hold up there.
What do you mean by everyone ishardwired to worship?
I thought we could just leavethat all in the old history
books of when people worshipedtheir pagan gods and whatnot.
Isn't that a fairy tale?
We're not hardwired to worship,are we?
That's why this is so sopowerful.
John Bottimore (15:55):
Yeah, sorry, scott.
That's why this is so sopowerful, because it's assumed,
it's not known.
Notice that it talks about theroot is a form of worship.
The roots are under the ground.
We don't see them.
We assume this, it's not.
Do we worship?
It's.
What or whom do we worship?
So we ignore this at our peril.
(16:18):
We have no idea, but weactually are worshiping
something or someone, and it isso absolutely foundational to
where we go from there.
Scott Allen (16:31):
Yeah, I think the worship, you know, it's getting
to this question of what is your, what do you value supremely,
what is most important to you?
And everyone has an answer tothat question.
They may not have thought aboutit, but it's revealed in the
way that they act.
Again, that's what culture is.
It's what we do, right?
So at the root of the culture,the way we act, is this thing
(16:54):
that we value most supremely,and it's a form of worship.
And so, you know, I really lovewhat Jordan Peterson has been,
you know, kind of talking aboutover these last few years.
He says at the root of everyculture, every civilization, is
a story, a deep story, you know,and you know that's what we're
(17:18):
talking about here.
A story, a form of worship, areligious form of worship, a
story that gives rise to aparticular culture.
And he said hey, you know, theWest was given rise from the
story of the Bible, both theJewish Bible and the Christian,
you know, edition of the NewTestament.
That was what made it, was thatworship that made the West.
(17:40):
And he went on and said beforewe throw it away, you know, we
better know what we'rediscarding, because it gave rise
to a particular culture, a wayof doing things, and that's what
we're talking about here.
Tim Williams (17:52):
I would just, you know, add.
You know, as we think aboutbelief, one of the things that
comes to my mind is how theScripture talks about the
condition of the heart.
It's out of the overflow of theheart that our mouth speaks.
It's, you know, the religiousleaders in the Bible were often
concerned with Jesus.
(18:13):
You know, about outwardappearances and how things
looked and were they you knowthey doing everything perfectly
correct.
And he said you're totallymissing it.
It's evil actions or otherwise.
It comes out of the heart, andso, as we think about what
somebody worships, what somebodyvalues.
Scott Allen (18:58):
We all have something that we prize and that
we live our value and thatshapes a particular kind of
culture, in the sense that itshapes the way that people act
and behave and make all sorts ofdecisions, for good or bad
Ideas have consequences andthere's a lot of bad fruit that
comes from that self-worship,but that's probably the dominant
(19:19):
form of worship in the West.
You know, at least in mylifetime, yeah.
Video Narrator (19:24):
Yeah, darrow often says I don't know if he
made this up or if he's stealingthis from someone, but from a
you know, standpoint ofetymology, the word culture.
We often hear that culture isupstream from politics right,
yes.
But you can go one step furtherthan that and say culture is
sorry, politics is downstreamfrom culture, right.
And then culture is downstreamfrom cult or worship.
(19:47):
That's right.
Actually, the root word ofculture is cult or a form of
worship.
So you can drive it all the wayback to that point.
And I like what you were saying, dad too, about in the West
that we often forget this.
Like I was saying, uh, you know, we left worship behind in
history.
You know, we don't do thatanymore.
Luke Allen (20:01):
It's no, we just worship ourselves.
Video Narrator (20:04):
We don't worship you know, bail or
whoever, but we're we, we canworship ourselves, and you often
see that when people's livesare threatened, they'll run to
what they value most, right?
Uh, so I I think back to thatCOVID pandemic.
At the beginning, when everyonewas freaking out, a lot of
people wanted to.
First thought was save myself,save my stuff, whereas,
hopefully, with Christians,those aren't your first two
(20:25):
thoughts.
Your first two thoughts are goand help others, because we
worship a God that tells us tolove your neighbor as yourself,
and you can kind of see thatshine out when things get a
little bit more scary.
That's right, anyways, let'skeep rolling with the video here
when things get a little bitmore scary.
Luke Allen (20:42):
That's right.
Anyways, let's keep rollingwith the video here.
Another word for these deepbelief systems is worldview,
which is simply a way of seeingreality.
A worldview is composed of,often unconscious, ideas or
assumptions that provide answersto life's most important
questions.
The answer to these worldviewquestions provide order and
meaning to our lives, whetherthey're true or not.
(21:03):
But from where do our answersto these questions come from?
Video Narrator (21:09):
All right.
Any thoughts about that clipguys?
Scott Allen (21:11):
Yeah, I think just that's a simple kind of point
that's being made there that'svery valid, and that is that
worldviews are the things thatanswer.
Your worldview is the thingthat answers those most
fundamental, the biggestquestions that you have, that we
all have.
You know who am I, you knowwhat is the nature of this world
around me, what happens after Idie?
(21:34):
Why is there evil in the world?
How can that evil be overcome?
Those big questions everyonestruggles with and, at some
level, has answers to.
You know, because we have tolive in the real world, right?
You can't just say, oh, I don'thave any answers to any of
those questions.
You live.
Your worldview is actuallydetermined this is a really
important point I'd like to justunderscore here but it's
(21:56):
determined not by what you say,but what you do, how you live.
That's what shows yourworldview.
So, yeah, so we all haveanswers, because we all have to
live in this world based on someset of answers, and your
worldview is what answers thosebig questions.
Video Narrator (22:13):
Yeah, I was frustrated when I went to a
Christian college and I took aclass called, you know,
worldviews of the World BiblicalWorldview and Worldviews of the
World and the class treatedworldview purely as an academic
subject of something that youcan just think about, and it
presented the other worldviewshere's animism, here's
postmodernism, here's Marxismand it kind of gave you an
(22:34):
explanation of what they believeabout the big worldview
questions, but it left it thereand they think this way and as
Christians, we think this wayand it's all in your head and
yet we have to take it to thenext step of yes, what you think
is important, but what youthink is how you live.
Scott Allen (22:50):
Let me just comment on that, luke.
It's such an important pointthat that way of thinking that
you just described that we can.
You know that this worldview isjust the thoughts going around
in our heads, with no bearing onthe way that we live or act.
This is all purelyphilosophical and not practical
is another way of saying thatthat actually is the fruit of
the Enlightenment rationalistworldview.
That's true, you know, andwe've all been shaped by that
(23:12):
because you know that's beenreally a profoundly influential
worldview in the West.
It's not biblical, though.
The biblical worldview doesn'tseparate belief and action.
It ties those things tightlytogether and it says you know
what you actually believe, whatyou worship is going to be
proven by what you do.
There is no separation there.
Video Narrator (23:31):
Yeah, it kind of reminds me of.
You know, faith without worksis dead.
Exactly, you can intellectuallyhave faith in God, but if
you're not actually living thatout, it's a, and I'll tell
people.
Scott Allen (23:40):
You know, you can tell me, you know we can fool
ourselves, we can say I believethis or that, but I'll say you
know, you know I'll, I'lldetermine what you believe not
by what you say, but by what I'mseeing you do, by your
behaviors and actions.
That's what you truly believe,actually.
So, yeah, it is go, go ahead,john.
John Bottimore (23:57):
And to miss the fact that worldview is eminently
practical.
It happens even in the church,and that's the root of the
failure of the secular-sacreddivide as well, and so it's very
important to separate thosethings.
It's interesting that worldviewis, as the narrator said is, a
(24:20):
way of seeing reality and theanswers to the questions we have
about what happens in thereality, these hard questions of
life.
They provide order and meaningto our lives, whether they are
true or not.
Scott Allen (24:32):
That's right.
John Bottimore (24:33):
So we act and behave based on what we believe
and what we see and how we'reinfluenced, whether our beliefs
are true or not, and that's areally just again a very basic
and super important point, john.
Scott Allen (24:46):
There's a variety of forms of worship, a variety
of worldviews in the world,right, but they all aren't true
and there's only one.
That's true and that seems kindof like an arrogant thing to
say, but when you think about itin a different way, it's not at
all.
There's only one world, we onlylive in one world, right.
So that's what we have incommon, this world that we live
(25:08):
in, and you can see it rightly,correctly, accurately, or you
can see it in a way that'scompletely distorted, and those
are going to have real impactson your life.
If you're living in a waythat's completely distorted and
those you know those are goingto have real impacts on your
life.
If you're living in a kind ofan illusion or a false view of
the real world, you know andwe're going to get to that I
know in the video it's going tohave consequences, harmful
consequences.
Tim Williams (25:28):
I would just kind of mention for a second.
You know, scott, as you weretalking about kind of this
worship of self, you know thisfocus on self.
I mean, the word that standsout to me right now, with a lot
of our culture, is justmaterialism you know, highly
materialistic, and that's, Ithink, a manifestation of this
(25:51):
focus on self.
It's also a focus on a beliefthat there is nothing else.
Scott Allen (25:57):
That's right.
Tim Williams (25:57):
There is no God, there is no ultimate reality.
Scott Allen (25:59):
It all ends when I die, right you?
Tim Williams (26:01):
know beyond what I can feel and touch and have and
get and gain for myself.
And I don't think a lot ofpeople, even Christian believers
, think about how they're formedby that type of thinking,
because it impacts.
When do they have children?
When do they get married?
(26:22):
How many children do they have?
How do they view and value thefamily?
How much do they work?
What kind of a job?
How much do they relocate?
Um?
How much do they rest?
What is it that they findfulfilling?
Um, again, all of these thingsare just kind of in these
unconscious thoughts and they'reforming daily decisions and
(26:45):
habits and generations of people.
Scott Allen (26:51):
They need to come to that conscious level Right on
, that's right.
Video Narrator (26:55):
Yeah, that's really helpful.
This next section I likebecause it talks about where
most of our worldview isacquired from.
I got a couple of young kids inthe house and that's good to
keep in mind when most of yourworldview is formed.
A lot of people say about aboutage eight.
80% of your worldview has beenformed.
So, uh, if you have an undereight year old in the house,
keep that in mind.
They're absorbing like a sponge, right now like a sponge,
(27:16):
absolutely let's keep going,guys.
Let's also pick up the pace alittle bit, because, uh, we're
only a minute and 20 seconds inand we already could be talking.
Luke Allen (27:24):
This is way too fun, but we'll keep going many of
our beliefs are assumed,acquired in our earliest years.
At a deeper level, ourworldviews come from the ideas
and philosophies of keyhistorical figures.
Their powerful philosophies arepicked up by artists, who
convey them in songs, literature, paintings, poetry and film.
(27:47):
These in turn influencecultural gatekeepers in
universities, public education,business, government,
entertainment and law.
They institutionalize theworldview in curricula, policies
and laws.
Video Narrator (28:01):
And we absorb it all.
Right, this is a.
This is a point that we've beentalking about on the team a lot
this week actually the flow ofideas through culture and how,
uh, carl marx is still havinghis effects on teenagers looking
at their iPhones today.
Um, it's because, uh, there'sthis.
There's this general patternthat ideas often take, where
(28:24):
they start with an idea fromsomeone.
Usually it's a kind of aparadigm level idea that someone
has, um, and then that getspassed on to often the
balladeers, the artists who pickup on that kind of early on.
There's something about artistswhere they're able to grasp new
ideas quickly and then putthose into a digestible form.
That's very catchy and can takea lot of people, capture a lot
(28:48):
of people's imaginations.
From there they often move onto we call it the principle
level.
So from the paradigm to theprinciple level, where these
things in universities andthrough our policymakers, mostly
through, often through theuniversities, the thinkers will
actually take these concepts andthey'll turn into those
principles right, what's rightand wrong, what's moral, these
kinds of things and then thoseturn into the policies of the
(29:09):
nation, those turn into thethings that actually affect and
shape our lives, and then those,of course, turn into the
practice level.
Right here on the screen wehave the guy looking at the
iPhone.
These are the things thateventually end up on TikTok and
train the way that we thinkabout things.
So any thoughts here, guys, onthis kind of flow of ideas?
Scott Allen (29:28):
This section makes two points.
The first one is that, as youwere saying, we all have a
worldview.
Okay, nobody's, you know,exempt.
Everyone's got a.
A worldview, uh, helps themlive in the real world.
You have to have some way ofunderstanding and living in the
world.
Where does it come from?
Where do these ideas come fromthat shape our worldview?
And they come from um theculture around us.
(29:49):
We absorb it culturally and,you know, from our youngest ages
we get the these ideas andassumptions from our parents,
from our friends, just from theworld, us, just from observing
the way people act and do things, and that shapes our worldview.
Often, those assumptions.
Then we carry those the rest ofour lives.
They may not even be somethingthat we're even aware of, we
(30:09):
just operate off of them.
We've never actually kind oftaken time to kind of look at
them individually and go do Ireally believe that we just kind
of operate off of them.
It was Aristotle that said theunexamined life is not worth
living.
It's this idea that we've gotall these assumptions about
reality, but most of us havenever even thought about it.
You know, we just kind offunction off of it.
But the first point is that weare all shaped by our culture,
(30:34):
profoundly, you know, especiallyby those most basic
relationships, from the timethat we're born.
Video Narrator (30:39):
Yeah, uh, just as far as this flow of ideas
goes, uh, tim, you helped mecreate a graphic this week
explaining how the theconversation right now in the U
S.
One of the conversations beingtossed around is the one around
DEI, diversity, equity,inclusion.
Tim Williams (30:54):
Uh, how did that idea start and how did that idea
end up today being somethingall of us understand to a basic
amount, and are talking aboutputting you on the spot here
yeah, um, uh, I mean thatconversation is especially
scott's baby, but I'm gonna, I'mgonna take some stabs at it and
then we can kind of hand itover to him for some support.
But you know, um, again, justkind of walking through the flow
(31:17):
of ideas, right, I mean likethere's there's carl marx and
there's.
You know again, just kind ofwalking through the flow of
ideas, right, I mean likethere's there's Karl Marx and
there's, you know, universitythinking and educational
(31:39):
institutions, and then you knowthat flows out, these create,
and you know, at that level,these kind of key principles
kind of become like well, beingcolorblind is is vector of
oppression.
Moving on from those principles, you get into policies, and
(32:02):
that's where we kind of got intothese diversity, equity and
inclusion policies and laws, andthis begins to go into human
resource departments and the way, you know, everybody in
institutions begins to operate.
And then, finally, you just getinto the, the day-to-day
practice of how does how doesthis then play out for people's
(32:26):
lives?
And you see that you know, atthe level of like, hiring it's
not based on, it's not based onmerit, it's not based on
qualifications and what you earnit's based on are you part of a
group that maybe washistorically considered to be
(32:47):
oppressed, and a minority, andyou know.
So that's one practice thatjust kind of gets into the
day-to-day but people don'talways analyze.
Then where did it come from?
You know, it came all the wayback here, and is the thinking
that got us here to this?
Is that clear and usefulthinking?
(33:13):
Or how does it contrastterribly with my actual beliefs
and thinking?
Because it can use a lot of thesame language in a very
convincing and emotional way.
Scott Allen (33:20):
Yeah, a couple of things, tim, on that.
You know we experience thesethings at the level of policies.
They might affect us or wemight be part of organizations
where these policies are putinto practice and they shape the
way we think.
But they like DEI, but we don't.
You know, we don't often thinkwhere did it come from?
And it does have its source in aworldview.
And in this case, you know,this worldview had its source
(33:43):
with Karl Marx.
And you know, even more broadlythan that, I mean, marx's big
idea wasn't really his own.
It's that there is no God.
Okay, everything evolved in ahaphazard and random fashion.
There is no God that makessense of the world, and so
everything has to be understoodseparate from God.
And the way that he then kindof understood that was that.
(34:07):
You know, humans organizethemselves into groups based on
various, you know, factors.
It could be wealth, or it couldbe, you know, the fact that
they're workers, or you knowmiddle class class or
impoverished groups, or it couldbe based on skin color or sex.
People organize themselves intogroups and the groups define
them and those groups are pittedagainst each other because in
(34:29):
Marx's worldview all that existsis power and kind of domination
.
It's a very dark worldview.
So you know, somebody is goingto be on top and dominating or
oppressing somebody else fortheir own selfish advantage.
That's the basic idea of Marx'sworldview.
You have to understand that,you know.
So that was the basic yeah, thebasic assumption.
(34:51):
Go ahead, john.
John Bottimore (34:52):
And it's a zero-sum thinking.
Scott Allen (34:54):
Zero-sum.
Yeah, there is no win-win here,right.
John Bottimore (34:56):
Yeah, not to be true in real life, in economics
and in other fields.
Taking us back to this sectionof the video, that these beliefs
are acquired and assumed andScott, you touched on this is
most of us don't challenge them,most of us don't question them.
We go through education,they're reinforced all the way
up to the university level andsuch, and so, just as a preview
(35:23):
of coming attractions as we goon here, the only way that we're
really going to be able tochallenge these is when our
minds are transformed, by therenewing of our minds, and only
with a biblical worldview can wedo that.
Otherwise, we accept theseviews and beliefs and buy into
the actions that they lead to,which do not lead to ultimate
(35:45):
flourishing andother-centeredness in the world.
Tim Williams (35:49):
Yeah, I would say just either people, when it
comes to policies, right Likepeople either are super focused
on policies and that's wherethey spend all of their time and
attention, thinking that that'swhere culture is going to
transform.
Scott Allen (36:00):
If we can change this policy Exactly Law or they
say we don't need to mess withpolicies at all.
Tim Williams (36:06):
And you know it's, it's part of the picture, it's
an important part of the pictureand it's not the whole picture.
Video Narrator (36:13):
That's so well said All right, guys, back to
the video.
The question on the screenright now says why does this all
matter?
That's a very importantquestion, one that I asked many
times after going to theconferences, going to church and
hearing people talk about abiblical worldview.
So I'd be like, all right,sounds interesting.
But then you leave the buildingand you kind of forget about it
.
Okay, why does this all matter?
Later on in the video you'llsee the statement that
(36:35):
essentially says as Christians,our job description, you could
say, is to go and make disciplesof all nations.
That's something we're allcalled to the Great Commission.
You can't do that without abiblical worldview,
understanding it and living itout.
So, in short, that's why weneed to keep watching this video
.
Luke Allen (36:52):
Because worldview shapes everything we think and
do, and what we do shapes theworld around us.
It turns out.
Nothing is more practical andmore central than worldview.
We can think of our worldviewlike the roots of a tree
underground and hidden fromsight.
The trunk represents our values.
(37:13):
The branches are behaviors andactions.
Our behaviors and actions inturn shape our lives and the
world around us.
This is the fruit.
John Bottimore (37:25):
Yeah, that's really the important thing here.
The bitter fruit is notsomething that just happens to
itself out in the weather.
The bitter fruit is because ofbitter roots, so that's why it's
so important to to have ourroots and foundations right.
Video Narrator (37:41):
Yeah, yeah, as you guys uh have probably
noticed our logo here on thepodcast ideas have consequences
starts with a tree, and this isthe exact same tree that we're
talking about here is ideas haveconsequences.
The ideas affecting theworldview level are going to
eventually result in the fruitthe bitter fruit or the healthy
fruit that produces a life livedthe way God wants us to.
(38:01):
But it all starts back with theideas and the roots, so we use
this tree analogy all the time.
If you have been a DNA followerfor a while, you started this
section, luke, with the.
Tim Williams (38:12):
it had a question on the screen why does all this
matter?
I mean, dna got a lot of itsstart working with people around
the world and developingcountries where there was just
tremendous poverty and therewere believers, and it was like
you know, what is it about this?
And we found, you know, thatworldview was essential in
(38:34):
addressing and helping peoplemove from a culture that created
poverty unintentionally and aculture that created pain
unintentionally to a worldviewthat cultivated life and
flourishing and healthy familiesand healthy individuals and
healthy churches.
Who healthy individuals andhealthy churches who see and
(39:01):
understand the world in acomprehensive way, formed by the
Bible.
And so why does it all matter?
Because God doesn't want hispeople to live unnecessarily in
pain and suffering.
He wants them to realize theirown dignity and opportunity to
live the purpose-filled livesthat he's called them to.
Scott Allen (39:18):
I just want to add something to what you said, tim.
It's really important.
You know, when we started atthe DNA, you know we were
working in communities incontext of extreme poverty, a
lot of corruption, brokenness,high infant mortality just a lot
of bitter, bad fruit.
And you made the point thatthere were Christians, and it's
true.
Not only were there Christians,the church was growing rapidly
(39:39):
and that was really the tensionthat people felt.
How is it that the church ishere, present, and yet we still
have all of this bitter fruit inour culture?
Something's wrong, and here'sthe answer.
It's that you can actually makethis error, and the evangelical
church has done this.
You can say we don't have to goand deal with these issues of
worldview.
We just have to get peoplesaved, give them the gospel
(39:59):
message, have them raise theirhand yes, I accept Jesus as my
Lord and Savior.
But then everything about theirworldview that's giving rise to
all this bitter fruit remainsuntouched, and that's what we've
done all over the world, sadly.
So you've got Christians.
In a place like Guatemala,let's say, for example, lots of
them.
It's one of the fastest-growingchurches in the West Lots of
(40:22):
people in church on Sunday, buttheir worldview is still very
deeply shaped by kind of falseanimistic assumptions that give
rise to all sorts of brokennessand poverty.
Why?
Because missionaries that wentdidn't set out to change
worldview.
They didn't, you know.
They just wanted to see handsraised and churches planted.
Good.
But you've got to go down tothe level of worldview.
(40:42):
There's something deeply wrongAgain.
If this doesn't become aculture and it doesn't bear good
fruit, something's deeply wrongwith our understanding of
mission.
So that's really why we weexist at.
The DNA is to correct thatproblem.
Video Narrator (40:54):
Exactly, yeah, yeah, we exist at.
The DNA is to correct thatproblem.
Exactly, yeah, yeah.
And one of the root issuesthere is that a lot of people
assume that when you become aChristian, you automatically get
a medical degree.
You automatically.
Scott Allen (41:02):
It all automatically changes and it
does not.
Video Narrator (41:04):
It has to be.
Scott Allen (41:05):
Your roots are still yeah yeah, that deep
worldview that you got from thetime you were a kid.
Tim Williams (41:09):
It doesn't automatically all just change
overnight, so you see, on theother side of the spectrum,
people who just go and they, youknow, do very well, they bring
clean water or something, butyou know they also aren't
operating at the level ofworldview.
And what we've seen at DNA is,you know, when we address things
at the worldview level, thepeople themselves take ownership
(41:33):
to bring about and identify thestrategic changes that they
need to make.
Scott Allen (41:37):
Yeah, if you can get down to that level of
worldview change, theythemselves right when they
function according to realities.
God created it, you know.
That's the key to bringingabout the flourishing right.
John Bottimore (41:47):
It's a lasting change.
Scott Allen (41:48):
Yep.
Video Narrator (41:50):
All right, let's keep going.
Luke Allen (41:51):
Sadly, the world around us is filled with bitter
fruit.
This is unacceptable.
As Christians we are called togive ourselves to change the
world for the better.
But in order to change thefruit, we have to change the
root.
Genuine social transformationrequires a change of culture, a
(42:11):
change of worldview.
Video Narrator (42:13):
All right, that's pretty much what we were
just talking about.
That's what we were justtalking about exactly.
Yeah, you know, and again thisis an error.
Scott Allen (42:20):
We go into a situation, a culture, let's say,
and we go, wow, this is reallyhorrible that this fruit exists.
Let's just change the fruit.
Let's swap out the apples forthe oranges.
No, that doesn't do any good ifthe root is still an apple.
You know, just pasting on anorange isn't going to change
things.
You've got to actually go downall the way to the level of
those roots and change at thatlevel.
Video Narrator (42:43):
Exactly Yep, okay.
Luke Allen (42:45):
And this change must start with us.
The Bible speaks of this inmany ways.
We are admonished to think withthe mind of Christ, to take
captive every thought, to makeit obedient to Christ, to be
transformed by the renewing ofour minds.
And sure we are to think andact differently.
Video Narrator (43:09):
I'll definitely include this in the show notes
for you guys.
But on our website,disciplenationsorg, there's a
page called Our Strategy and itkind of explains what we're
talking about here is how we'rethe Disciple Nations Alliance
strong connection there to theGreat Commission go and make
disciples of all nations again,how do you do that?
Like we're saying here, thisall starts with God and God
(43:29):
transforming our minds throughthe regeneration of his spirit
at conversion, so you become aChristian.
Then what?
Well, then you need totransform your mind again.
Like we were saying, you can'tjust keep living with this
bitter fruit.
So you got to drive back to thatworldview level and once your
worldview changes, it'sobviously going to change the
way you think and the way yousee the world your worldview,
right and then that's going toaffect your actions.
(43:51):
So it's going to affect the wayyou're living your life and, of
course, anyone around you willnotice that your life is looking
differently.
So your worldview is going toaffect them.
It moves on from there, fromlike your close friends and your
family, to your society, as itaffects you and your friends,
and it's going to affect yoursociety, community, city, and
that's how you disciple nations.
It all starts.
It all starts that way.
(44:11):
So again, I'll share that.
Our strategy document that hasthat essentially explained in
more depth.
So any thoughts here on thislast segment?
Scott Allen (44:20):
No, it's just that I think God wants to see the
world transformed.
There is a true worldview.
It's the one that aligns withthe world as it exists and with
God as the creator of this world, and that we can know that
truth because God's revealed itto us, he's revealed it in the
creation, he's revealed itthrough his word, and we can
have that power of enlightenmentthrough the Holy Spirit.
And you know we are not eventhough we're deeply shaped by
(44:44):
false worldviews and thecultures around us.
We can have our minds renewedand transformed.
And that's actually as it sayshere the beginning of this
process of transformation has tostart with us.
Video Narrator (44:53):
Exactly, and we'll keep learning about that
here in this next segment.
Luke Allen (44:57):
In short, we are to think and act differently, not
according to the beliefs, valuesand norms of our surrounding
culture, but according toreality as presented in God's
Word and the culture of God'skingdom.
This worldview transformationdoesn't happen automatically.
It must be intentional and ittakes time, often years.
(45:20):
This is because we areprofoundly shaped by our
surrounding culture, yet we arenot imprisoned within it, nor
are we defined by it.
God has given us all we need tobe transformed by the renewing
of our minds.
He has given us His Word, HisHoly Spirit and the Spirit of
Truth who guides us into alltruth, and brothers and sisters
(45:44):
in Christ to walk and learn withus.
But we must decide to take thefirst step.
In order to transform the world, we have to be transformed
ourselves, and this begins atthe level of worldview.
Video Narrator (46:01):
All right, I guess there was a lot there in
the last segment.
I probably should have brokenthat up into two chunks, but
yeah, this is practical we'retalking about here.
This is not, this is not theory.
Again, this is this is going toaffect your life.
This is going to affect the wayyou look at everything,
everything from sports to food,to what kind of car you buy,
like the biblical worldviewaffects everything and it's not
(46:24):
automatic like it said there,and in fact it's not just not
automatic, but this is anupstream battle.
You know, I always think oflike kayaking in a river and
we're going upstream here withthe biblical worldview thing
because we live in a fallenworld, a world affected by sin,
and constantly that's gonnawanna pull us towards our
fleshly kind of desires and theworldly desires.
But we have to keep on pushingagainst that as we work towards
(46:46):
this.
It's all part of thesanctification process, but it's
not easy, but we can do it.
Scott Allen (46:51):
No, and I think the key thing that's said here is
that it has to be intentional.
And I think this is where thechurch has really struggled.
There hasn't been thisintentional effort to disciple
new believers at the level ofworldview.
And it's kind of like we'rehappy when people accept Christ,
get baptized and yes, we arebut if there's no intentional
(47:11):
effort to disciple them, theyhave a worldview and it's shaped
by the culture around them.
In the West that's a verymaterialistic, very
individualistic.
In the West that's a verymaterialistic, very
individualistic, selfish kind ofculture.
That's the way they think right, and it's possible to be a
believer and still have thatworldview kind of functioning in
the background unless there'sthis intentional effort to
(47:33):
disciple at the level ofworldview and challenge those
basic assumptions and reallyhave that renewing of the mind.
And I think we just have to doso much better at this.
We just haven't done, wehaven't set out to do it largely
.
So this is part of the reason,I think you know.
We say how is it that we haveso many Christians, a country
like the United States, so manychurches, and yet the culture is
(47:54):
so deeply shaped by thesenon-Christian ideologies, our
institutions?
How is that?
Well, it's because we haven'teven set ourselves out to
disciple ourselves at the levelof worldview and then live it
out in a way that shapes aculture.
It just hasn't been on ourradar to do that.
You know, we've let otherpeople do that.
John Bottimore (48:11):
I agree with what Luke said earlier.
Well said, this is part of oursanctification and this is part
of what I'll call the church'ssanctification to really
understand this, to thinkdifferently, to act differently,
to act with courage, to actwith obedience to what scripture
teaches us, and we see thebeautiful fruit of that in
flourishing society.
(48:32):
So it's a long walk, anobedient and courageous walk in
our lives, both individually andin churches, and it's our role,
obviously, to seek to influenceand contribute to the churches
(48:53):
we attend so that this kind offruit will ultimately ensue both
in the church and through thechurch, and in our communities
and nations.
Tim Williams (48:57):
Yeah, I think if I had kind of a concluding
thought, it's you know, I meanwhy?
Or question, followed bythought why is the church right
now, you know, especially in theUnited States ineffective in
this?
And I do think that it isbecause of some of these deep
ideas that we've assumed.
You know that what reallymatters is this spiritual
(49:20):
reality.
What really matters is thisspiritual reality, and so we
need to focus on the, you know,saving of souls and being in
church and tithing and spiritualdisciplines, reading our Bibles
.
But you know how we show up atwork, you know how we manage our
families, how we interact incommunities.
The policies, like those thingsaren't spiritual and they
operate at a lower and lessimportant level.
(49:43):
I don't think that's true orreal at all in God's reality as
lived out in our daily lives.
Video Narrator (49:54):
Yeah, it's kind of a yeah, like you're saying
there.
It's that sacred-secular split.
It's a wrong view ofdiscipleship also, I would say,
and the fact that we think ofdiscipleship as something we do
when we're at our small group orour Bible study or when we're
reading the Word.
Discipleship should affecteverything.
I like what this video sayshere, and it says we are to be
(50:16):
ambassadors of God's kingdom,representing his culture, the
culture of God's kingdom, tothis world.
That statement right there,that's how you disciple the
nations, and it's also astatement that's hotly contested
right now.
I would say, in a time ofcultural relativism, how dare
you say that you're going toinfluence someone else's culture
(50:37):
?
Right, we should leave culturesbe and let them each be their
own thing, because they're allvirtuous in their own way.
Right, that's culturalrelativism.
We're saying cultures are great, but there is a way, like we
said earlier, there's a way tolive in this world.
There's only one way to live init, and it's the way God laid
out for us.
So, again, that's the cultureof God's kingdom that we're
(50:57):
supposed to be representing here.
John Bottimore (50:59):
That's right.
They're universal measures andelements of flourishing that all
cultures appreciate and seek.
Sometimes they're done indifferent ways and such, but
these general principles,through scripture, are lead to
flourishing in all societies,regardless of the cultural
differences 100%, yeah.
Video Narrator (51:19):
So again, guys, this video, it's on YouTube,
you can.
It's on youtube, you can findit there.
You can find it on our website.
It's soon going to become partof our new overall basics course
at the disciple nationsalliance for anyone that wants
to learn about how to discipletheir nation, how to understand
a biblical worldview and livethat out in a way that affects
all areas of their life.
That course will be coming out.
(51:40):
I can't give you guys a dateyet, but it'll be coming out
somewhat soon.
For now, I would recommend justgoing and looking at this video
on YouTube, like it, share it,subscribe to our channel if you
feel like it.
This video, I think, is greatfor discussions like this.
If you want to bring it to yoursmall group.
A Bible study, I think, can bereally useful in that context.
Any context, any final thoughtsfrom you guys?
(52:00):
John Tim.
John Bottimore (52:02):
Only that I enjoyed doing this and again, it
is very much the foundation andthe root of how we need to be
thinking, both as individualsand as the church.
When we get this right, ourgracious Lord takes us, you know
, a long way to other thingsbeing right.
So the fruit starts at the root, as we've said, and it's just
(52:24):
so great to know that, and it'shis work.
As long as we're obedient tohim, Exactly, yep, it all starts
with him.
Video Narrator (52:31):
It's good to keep that in mind.
All right, dad, over to you.
Scott Allen (52:35):
Well, thanks again, guys.
What a great discussion.
Thank you for leading us, Luke,and for all of our listeners,
thank you.
Thank you for leading us, Luke,and for all of our listeners.
Thank you for listening toanother episode of Ideas have
Consequences.
This is the podcast of theDisciple Nations Alliance.
There's a variety of forms of worship, a variety
of world views in the world,right, but they all aren't true
and there's only one.
That's true, and that seemskind of like an arrogant thing
to say, but when you think aboutit in a different way, it's not
at all.
There's only one world.
We only live in one world,right, you know.
Tim Williams (00:19):
So that's what we have in common, this world that
we live in, and you can see itrightly, correctly accurately,
or you can see it in a waythat's completely distorted, and
I don't think a lot of people,even Christian believers, think
about how they're formed by thattype of thinking, because it
impacts.
When do they have children?
When do they get married?
(00:39):
How many children do they have?
How do they view and value thefamily?
How much do they work?
What kind of a job?
How much do they relocate?
How much do they rest?
What is it that they findfulfilling?
So, again, all of these thingsare just kind of in these
unconscious thoughts and they'reforming daily decisions and
habits and generations of people, generations of people.
Luke Allen (01:09):
Hi, friends, welcome back to another episode of
Ideas have Consequences.
Here on the show, we examinehow our mission as Christians is
to not only spread the gospelaround the world, to all the
nations, but our mission alsoincludes being the hands and
feet of God to transform thenations to increasingly reflect
the truth, goodness and beautyof God's kingdom.
Tragically, the church haslargely neglected this second
(01:31):
part of her mission and todaymost Christians have little
influence on their surroundingcultures.
Join us on this podcast as werediscover what it means for
each of us to disciple thenations and to create
Christ-honoring cultures thatreflect the character of the
living God.
Hey guys, a quick FYI before weget started the nations and to
create Christ-honoring culturesthat reflect the character of
the living God.
Hey guys, a quick FYI before weget started.
Today's going to sound a bitunique because we're actually
going to be doing a video reviewepisode and, since this is an
(01:53):
audio-only podcast, youobviously can't watch us react
to the video.
So if you want to visualizethis episode, then all you have
to do is pull up the video thatwe're highlighting today, which
is linked in the episodedescription and is also on
YouTube, and the video is called.
Why Does your Worldview MatterAgain, to find it, just click on
the link in the description, oryou can search it on YouTube
(02:13):
yourself.
Enjoy.
Scott Allen (02:17):
Well, welcome again everyone to another episode of
Ideas have Consequences.
This is the podcast of theDisciple Nations Alliance.
My name is Scott Allen, I'm thepresident of the DNA and I'm
joined today by my co-workersand dear friends.
Tim Williams, all the way fromNorth Carolina, great to be here
.
John Bottimore, joining us fromthe sunny state of Florida
today.
Hi, john and Luke Allen.
(02:38):
Hey, luke, good to see you aswell.
Luke Allen (02:40):
Yeah.
Scott Allen (02:41):
Looking forward to our discussion.
Luke, why don't you tee it upfor us today what we're going to
be talking about?
Luke Allen (02:46):
Yeah, sure, yeah.
This is kind of a fun episode,guys, that we've been hoping to
do for a little while.
This has been a project of oursthat we've worked on for about
three years and essentially theproject is we're calling it the
Core Message Video Project andfor the last 30 years of the DNA
we've had this kind of basicteaching of the DNA that the
guys have traveled around theworld teaching.
That we have turned into ourfirst basics course.
(03:09):
Now we call it the Kingdomizer101.
So just the core DNA teaching,what we're all about here at the
Disciple Nations Alliance.
We wanted to turn that intosomething even more digestible
shorter, more compact, concise.
So we decided to go with shortanimated videos, because they're
great at explaining concepts indepth and yet a great way also
to condense things and make themas digestible as possible for
(03:31):
everyone.
So that's a project that westarted about four years ago.
Now We've broken up all of ourcore teaching into five videos,
all of which are about fiveminutes or shorter, and today we
just wanted to go over thefirst video with you guys.
This is a video that's been upon YouTube for a couple years
now.
It's called why Does yourWorldview Matter?
It's one of our most popularvideos, but we just wanted to
break this video down for youguys because it is dense.
(03:53):
We'll admit that it's only 4minutes and 20 seconds, but it
packs a punch and it explainswhat worldview is.
It explains why we all have aworldview why does worldview
matter and then it kind ofsummarizes with why the biblical
worldview is the only one thatactually works in this world and
if we want to see free,flourishing, thriving nations,
(04:14):
then a biblical worldview is theonly way for us to bring us
there.
So there's a lot of informationthere.
I know those things I justexplained right there.
You're probably already askingquestions what do you mean by
that?
How can you say that?
Those kind of questions.
But we'll break that all downtoday.
So, again, it's called why doesyour worldview matter?
And this video is soon going tobe.
The reason we're doing thistoday is because this is soon
(04:34):
going to be part of our newbasic training here at Disciple
Nations Alliance.
We're actually taking thattraining that we've been
teaching for almost 30 yearsaround the world and we're going
to be giving it a new update, a2025 edition update, maybe 2026
and this video will be a partof it.
So, uh, we hope that you guysenjoy the discussion well, why
don't we do this?
Scott Allen (04:53):
here's how we're going to run this today.
We're going to go ahead andshow the video in its entirety,
and then we're going to go backand we're going to watch it in
segments and comment on it.
So, luke, with that, why don'tyou go ahead and get that teed
up here and we can watch it?
Video Narrator (05:10):
We hear a lot about culture these days,
everything from culture wars tocancel culture.
But what exactly is culture?
In the broadest sense, cultureis simply the way we do things.
In the broadest sense, cultureis simply the way we do things.
Culture describes a group'svalues, customs and behaviors,
whether the group is a family, abusiness, an organization, a
(05:37):
community or an entirecivilization.
At the root of every culture isa deep system of belief or a
form of worship.
This isn't surprising.
People are hardwired to worship.
The object of our worship maybe God, or it could be the self,
or we might worship government,nature or our ancestors.
(06:02):
Another word for these deepbelief systems is worldview.
Worldview, which is simply a wayof seeing reality.
A worldview is composed of,often unconscious, ideas or
assumptions that provide answersto life's most important
questions.
The answer to these worldviewquestions provide order and
meaning to our lives, whetherthey're true or not.
(06:23):
But from where do our answersto these questions come from?
Many of our beliefs are assumed, acquired in our earliest years
.
At a deeper level, ourworldviews come from the ideas
and philosophies of keyhistorical figures.
Their powerful philosophies arepicked up by artists, who
(06:44):
convey them in songs, literature, paintings, poetry and film.
These in turn influencecultural gatekeepers in
universities, public education,business, government,
entertainment and law.
They institutionalize theworldview in curricula, policies
and laws and we absorb it.
(07:04):
Why does this all matter?
Because worldview shapeseverything we think and do, and
what we do shapes the worldaround us.
It turns out.
Nothing is more practical andmore central than worldview.
We can think of our worldviewlike the roots of a tree
underground and hidden fromsight.
The trunk represents our values.
(07:27):
The branches are behaviors andactions.
Our behaviors and actions inturn shape our lives and the
world around us.
This is the fruit.
Sadly, the world around us isfilled with bitter fruit.
This is unacceptable.
As Christians, we are called togive ourselves to change the
(07:48):
world for the better.
But in order to change thefruit, we have to change the
root.
Genuine social transformationrequires a change of culture, a
change of worldview, and thischange must start with us.
The Bible speaks of this inmany ways.
We are admonished to think withthe mind of Christ, to take
(08:12):
captive every thought, to makeit obedient to Christ, to be
transformed by the renewing ofour minds.
In short, we are to think andact differently, not according
to the beliefs, values and normsof our surrounding culture, but
according to reality aspresented in God's word and the
(08:34):
culture of God's kingdom.
This worldview transformationdoesn't happen automatically.
It must be intentional and ittakes time, often years.
This is because we areprofoundly shaped by our
surrounding culture, yet we arenot imprisoned within it, nor
are we defined by it.
God has given us all.
(09:01):
We need to be transformed bythe renewing of our minds.
He has given us His Word, hisHoly Spirit and the Spirit of
Truth who guides us into alltruth, and brothers and sisters
in Christ to walk and learn withus.
But we must decide to take thefirst step.
In order to transform the world,we have to be transformed
ourselves, and this begins atthe level of worldview of
(09:39):
worldview and continue to watchit at about 70 people a day.
So it's been fun to see thatpeople are enjoying this video,
absorbing it.
It's getting shared around, sothat's encouraging for us and we
hope that people are reallylearning a lot from this.
I do know for myself, eventhough I'm around this teaching
all the time, if I watch thatvideo and I'm not cued in, I
miss a lot of it.
So today we're going to try tobreak this video down for you
(10:02):
guys, to make it a little bitmore digestible as best as
possible and hopefully shedlight on some of the concepts in
here that, yeah, there's just alot of meaning to them.
You know, some of these thingslike like it says, a biblical
worldview is the only one thatbuilds free and flourishing
nations.
Why is that?
You know?
(10:22):
How can you say that?
So we're going to try to breakdown some of those big questions
and statements that this videomakes.
So to do that, we'll just watchit through in little snippets
and give some dialogue along theway.
So I hope this is helpful foryou guys, and I just wanted to
give a shout out to our animatedvideographer, samuel Felix,
good friend of ours from down inBrazil who was the one that
(10:43):
made this video.
He is a genius when it comes tothis stuff of taking concepts
and portraying them in visualformat.
So great work, samuel.
You might be listening rightnow.
Thank you for this video.
We really enjoy it.
All right, let's hop back intoit.
We hear a lot about culturethese days, everything from
culture wars to cancel culturebut what exactly is culture?
(11:08):
In the broadest sense, cultureis simply the way we do things.
Culture describes a group'svalues, customs and behaviors,
whether the group is a family, abusiness, an organization, a
community or an entirecivilization.
All right, I'm just going topause it there.
Why culture, guys?
(11:29):
Why are we starting withculture?
This video is called why Doesyour Worldview Matter?
And yet the first thing we wantto talk about here is culture.
I love this really simpleexplanation of culture, which it
says here is just the way we dothings around here.
That makes so much sense to me.
Oftentimes, I think we getconfused with that definition of
culture the very broad one andthe more kind of specific
(11:50):
cultural heritage, culturalfashion, form, cuisine, that
type of culture that's morespecific.
But culture just broadly isreally just the way we do things
around here.
So again, guys, why are westarting with culture?
Scott Allen (12:03):
Well, I think, you know, I think starting with
culture is important because ourfaith as Christians is, you
know, we tend to, at the timethat we live in right now, as
evangelical Christians, we tendto think very personally and
individually and we don't thinkin terms of culture.
In fact, there's a lot ofpushback, even if you talk about
(12:24):
culture as it relates to themission of the church, you know.
But the faith, if it'sfaithfully lived out, our faith,
needs to become a culture.
It needs to become a way ofdoing things, whether, again,
that's in a family or in anentire nation.
Culture matters.
(12:45):
You know, christianfaithfulness, I think, in some
ways is measured by whether itactually becomes a culture.
And there's something deeplywrong when cultures, the ways of
doing things, are destructiveor unchristian and yet there's a
lot of Christians in thatculture.
Like something's wrong there.
Yeah, just echoing that, Scott.
John Bottimore (13:04):
Something's wrong there.
Yeah, Just echoing that, Scott,we will talk about
transformation later.
That's so critical that ifwe're going to be doing things
consistent with our faith andconsistent with Scripture, we
have to have that transformation.
Back to your fundamentalquestion culture is the way we
do things, and we can also sayculture is first the way we
(13:24):
think about.
And we can also say culture isfirst the way we think about
things and then do them, becausehow we think affects how we do
and, as the video says, values,customs, behaviors, etc.
Are all driven by how we thinkof culture.
So the core questions are well,where do these things come from
?
What influences, both timelessand changing, affect what we
(13:46):
think and do in culture, andthat's why what we're going to
talk about here is so, soimportant, so incredibly
practical, much more so thanjust philosophical.
Tim Williams (13:56):
Yeah, I would just echo what everybody else is
already saying.
I mean, you know one thing Ithink about with culture, which
is so influential in what we doevery day?
It is culture.
Culture is like our unthinkinglife, Like this is just
automatic.
It's what we do.
We don't analyze it, but it isthe way things are, it's how we
(14:20):
think when we're not thinking.
Yeah, well said Tim.
Yeah, really great point wethink when we're not thinking
yeah, well said Tim.
Yeah, really really great point.
Yeah, yeah, so this is really,you know that we talk about
culture because it's what'shappening all the time, it's
automatic, and what we're sayingis culture is really important,
but you don't get to whatdrives culture and what really
(14:43):
drives people until you get intothe belief system through which
they're seeing the world,through which they're creating
their culture.
And we really, you know, justwant to call people to think at
that deep level and reallyreally make some analysis there
so that they can experience thefruit and the transformation
(15:05):
that they desire to see.
Scott Allen (15:07):
Yeah, well said, tim, well said.
Video Narrator (15:09):
Yeah, I'm glad we started there.
All right, let's keep going.
Luke Allen (15:14):
At the root of every culture is a deep system of
belief or a form of worship.
This isn't surprising.
People are hardwired to worship.
The object of our worship maybe God, or it could be the self,
or we might worship government,nature or our ancestors.
Video Narrator (15:36):
Okay, I just got to hold up there.
What do you mean by everyone ishardwired to worship?
I thought we could just leavethat all in the old history
books of when people worshipedtheir pagan gods and whatnot.
Isn't that a fairy tale?
We're not hardwired to worship,are we?
That's why this is so sopowerful.
John Bottimore (15:55):
Yeah, sorry, scott.
That's why this is so sopowerful, because it's assumed,
it's not known.
Notice that it talks about theroot is a form of worship.
The roots are under the ground.
We don't see them.
We assume this, it's not.
Do we worship?
It's.
What or whom do we worship?
So we ignore this at our peril.
(16:18):
We have no idea, but weactually are worshiping
something or someone, and it isso absolutely foundational to
where we go from there.
Scott Allen (16:31):
Yeah, I think the worship, you know, it's getting
to this question of what is your, what do you value supremely,
what is most important to you?
And everyone has an answer tothat question.
They may not have thought aboutit, but it's revealed in the
way that they act.
Again, that's what culture is.
It's what we do, right?
So at the root of the culture,the way we act, is this thing
(16:54):
that we value most supremely,and it's a form of worship.
And so, you know, I really lovewhat Jordan Peterson has been,
you know, kind of talking aboutover these last few years.
He says at the root of everyculture, every civilization, is
a story, a deep story, you know,and you know that's what we're
(17:18):
talking about here.
A story, a form of worship, areligious form of worship, a
story that gives rise to aparticular culture.
And he said hey, you know, theWest was given rise from the
story of the Bible, both theJewish Bible and the Christian,
you know, edition of the NewTestament.
That was what made it, was thatworship that made the West.
(17:40):
And he went on and said beforewe throw it away, you know, we
better know what we'rediscarding, because it gave rise
to a particular culture, a wayof doing things, and that's what
we're talking about here.
Tim Williams (17:52):
I would just, you know, add.
You know, as we think aboutbelief, one of the things that
comes to my mind is how theScripture talks about the
condition of the heart.
It's out of the overflow of theheart that our mouth speaks.
It's, you know, the religiousleaders in the Bible were often
concerned with Jesus.
(18:13):
You know, about outwardappearances and how things
looked and were they you knowthey doing everything perfectly
correct.
And he said you're totallymissing it.
It's evil actions or otherwise.
It comes out of the heart, andso, as we think about what
somebody worships, what somebodyvalues.
Scott Allen (18:58):
We all have something that we prize and that
we live our value and thatshapes a particular kind of
culture, in the sense that itshapes the way that people act
and behave and make all sorts ofdecisions, for good or bad
Ideas have consequences andthere's a lot of bad fruit that
comes from that self-worship,but that's probably the dominant
(19:19):
form of worship in the West.
You know, at least in mylifetime, yeah.
Video Narrator (19:24):
Yeah, darrow often says I don't know if he
made this up or if he's stealingthis from someone, but from a
you know, standpoint ofetymology, the word culture.
We often hear that culture isupstream from politics right,
yes.
But you can go one step furtherthan that and say culture is
sorry, politics is downstreamfrom culture, right.
And then culture is downstreamfrom cult or worship.
(19:47):
That's right.
Actually, the root word ofculture is cult or a form of
worship.
So you can drive it all the wayback to that point.
And I like what you were saying, dad too, about in the West
that we often forget this.
Like I was saying, uh, you know, we left worship behind in
history.
You know, we don't do thatanymore.
Luke Allen (20:01):
It's no, we just worship ourselves.
Video Narrator (20:04):
We don't worship you know, bail or
whoever, but we're we, we canworship ourselves, and you often
see that when people's livesare threatened, they'll run to
what they value most, right?
Uh, so I I think back to thatCOVID pandemic.
At the beginning, when everyonewas freaking out, a lot of
people wanted to.
First thought was save myself,save my stuff, whereas,
hopefully, with Christians,those aren't your first two
(20:25):
thoughts.
Your first two thoughts are goand help others, because we
worship a God that tells us tolove your neighbor as yourself,
and you can kind of see thatshine out when things get a
little bit more scary.
That's right, anyways, let'skeep rolling with the video here
when things get a little bitmore scary.
Luke Allen (20:42):
That's right.
Anyways, let's keep rollingwith the video here.
Another word for these deepbelief systems is worldview,
which is simply a way of seeingreality.
A worldview is composed of,often unconscious, ideas or
assumptions that provide answersto life's most important
questions.
The answer to these worldviewquestions provide order and
meaning to our lives, whetherthey're true or not.
(21:03):
But from where do our answersto these questions come from?
Video Narrator (21:09):
All right.
Any thoughts about that clipguys?
Scott Allen (21:11):
Yeah, I think just that's a simple kind of point
that's being made there that'svery valid, and that is that
worldviews are the things thatanswer.
Your worldview is the thingthat answers those most
fundamental, the biggestquestions that you have, that we
all have.
You know who am I, you knowwhat is the nature of this world
around me, what happens after Idie?
(21:34):
Why is there evil in the world?
How can that evil be overcome?
Those big questions everyonestruggles with and, at some
level, has answers to.
You know, because we have tolive in the real world, right?
You can't just say, oh, I don'thave any answers to any of
those questions.
You live.
Your worldview is actuallydetermined this is a really
important point I'd like to justunderscore here but it's
(21:56):
determined not by what you say,but what you do, how you live.
That's what shows yourworldview.
So, yeah, so we all haveanswers, because we all have to
live in this world based on someset of answers, and your
worldview is what answers thosebig questions.
Video Narrator (22:13):
Yeah, I was frustrated when I went to a
Christian college and I took aclass called, you know,
worldviews of the World BiblicalWorldview and Worldviews of the
World and the class treatedworldview purely as an academic
subject of something that youcan just think about, and it
presented the other worldviewshere's animism, here's
postmodernism, here's Marxismand it kind of gave you an
(22:34):
explanation of what they believeabout the big worldview
questions, but it left it thereand they think this way and as
Christians, we think this wayand it's all in your head and
yet we have to take it to thenext step of yes, what you think
is important, but what youthink is how you live.
Scott Allen (22:50):
Let me just comment on that, luke.
It's such an important pointthat that way of thinking that
you just described that we can.
You know that this worldview isjust the thoughts going around
in our heads, with no bearing onthe way that we live or act.
This is all purelyphilosophical and not practical
is another way of saying thatthat actually is the fruit of
the Enlightenment rationalistworldview.
That's true, you know, andwe've all been shaped by that
(23:12):
because you know that's beenreally a profoundly influential
worldview in the West.
It's not biblical, though.
The biblical worldview doesn'tseparate belief and action.
It ties those things tightlytogether and it says you know
what you actually believe, whatyou worship is going to be
proven by what you do.
There is no separation there.
Video Narrator (23:31):
Yeah, it kind of reminds me of.
You know, faith without worksis dead.
Exactly, you can intellectuallyhave faith in God, but if
you're not actually living thatout, it's a, and I'll tell
people.
Scott Allen (23:40):
You know, you can tell me, you know we can fool
ourselves, we can say I believethis or that, but I'll say you
know, you know I'll, I'lldetermine what you believe not
by what you say, but by what I'mseeing you do, by your
behaviors and actions.
That's what you truly believe,actually.
So, yeah, it is go, go ahead,john.
John Bottimore (23:57):
And to miss the fact that worldview is eminently
practical.
It happens even in the church,and that's the root of the
failure of the secular-sacreddivide as well, and so it's very
important to separate thosethings.
It's interesting that worldviewis, as the narrator said is, a
(24:20):
way of seeing reality and theanswers to the questions we have
about what happens in thereality, these hard questions of
life.
They provide order and meaningto our lives, whether they are
true or not.
Scott Allen (24:32):
That's right.
John Bottimore (24:33):
So we act and behave based on what we believe
and what we see and how we'reinfluenced, whether our beliefs
are true or not, and that's areally just again a very basic
and super important point, john.
Scott Allen (24:46):
There's a variety of forms of worship, a variety
of worldviews in the world,right, but they all aren't true
and there's only one.
That's true and that seems kindof like an arrogant thing to
say, but when you think about itin a different way, it's not at
all.
There's only one world, we onlylive in one world, right.
So that's what we have incommon, this world that we live
(25:08):
in, and you can see it rightly,correctly, accurately, or you
can see it in a way that'scompletely distorted, and those
are going to have real impactson your life.
If you're living in a waythat's completely distorted and
those you know those are goingto have real impacts on your
life.
If you're living in a kind ofan illusion or a false view of
the real world, you know andwe're going to get to that I
know in the video it's going tohave consequences, harmful
consequences.
Tim Williams (25:28):
I would just kind of mention for a second.
You know, scott, as you weretalking about kind of this
worship of self, you know thisfocus on self.
I mean, the word that standsout to me right now, with a lot
of our culture, is justmaterialism you know, highly
materialistic, and that's, Ithink, a manifestation of this
(25:51):
focus on self.
It's also a focus on a beliefthat there is nothing else.
Scott Allen (25:57):
That's right.
Tim Williams (25:57):
There is no God, there is no ultimate reality.
Scott Allen (25:59):
It all ends when I die, right you?
Tim Williams (26:01):
know beyond what I can feel and touch and have and
get and gain for myself.
And I don't think a lot ofpeople, even Christian believers
, think about how they're formedby that type of thinking,
because it impacts.
When do they have children?
When do they get married?
(26:22):
How many children do they have?
How do they view and value thefamily?
How much do they work?
What kind of a job?
How much do they relocate?
Um?
How much do they rest?
What is it that they findfulfilling?
Um, again, all of these thingsare just kind of in these
unconscious thoughts and they'reforming daily decisions and
(26:45):
habits and generations of people.
Scott Allen (26:51):
They need to come to that conscious level Right on
, that's right.
Video Narrator (26:55):
Yeah, that's really helpful.
This next section I likebecause it talks about where
most of our worldview isacquired from.
I got a couple of young kids inthe house and that's good to
keep in mind when most of yourworldview is formed.
A lot of people say about aboutage eight.
80% of your worldview has beenformed.
So, uh, if you have an undereight year old in the house,
keep that in mind.
They're absorbing like a sponge, right now like a sponge,
(27:16):
absolutely let's keep going,guys.
Let's also pick up the pace alittle bit, because, uh, we're
only a minute and 20 seconds inand we already could be talking.
Luke Allen (27:24):
This is way too fun, but we'll keep going many of
our beliefs are assumed,acquired in our earliest years.
At a deeper level, ourworldviews come from the ideas
and philosophies of keyhistorical figures.
Their powerful philosophies arepicked up by artists, who
convey them in songs, literature, paintings, poetry and film.
(27:47):
These in turn influencecultural gatekeepers in
universities, public education,business, government,
entertainment and law.
They institutionalize theworldview in curricula, policies
and laws.
Video Narrator (28:01):
And we absorb it all.
Right, this is a.
This is a point that we've beentalking about on the team a lot
this week actually the flow ofideas through culture and how,
uh, carl marx is still havinghis effects on teenagers looking
at their iPhones today.
Um, it's because, uh, there'sthis.
There's this general patternthat ideas often take, where
(28:24):
they start with an idea fromsomeone.
Usually it's a kind of aparadigm level idea that someone
has, um, and then that getspassed on to often the
balladeers, the artists who pickup on that kind of early on.
There's something about artistswhere they're able to grasp new
ideas quickly and then putthose into a digestible form.
That's very catchy and can takea lot of people, capture a lot
(28:48):
of people's imaginations.
From there they often move onto we call it the principle
level.
So from the paradigm to theprinciple level, where these
things in universities andthrough our policymakers, mostly
through, often through theuniversities, the thinkers will
actually take these concepts andthey'll turn into those
principles right, what's rightand wrong, what's moral, these
kinds of things and then thoseturn into the policies of the
(29:09):
nation, those turn into thethings that actually affect and
shape our lives, and then those,of course, turn into the
practice level.
Right here on the screen wehave the guy looking at the
iPhone.
These are the things thateventually end up on TikTok and
train the way that we thinkabout things.
So any thoughts here, guys, onthis kind of flow of ideas?
Scott Allen (29:28):
This section makes two points.
The first one is that, as youwere saying, we all have a
worldview.
Okay, nobody's, you know,exempt.
Everyone's got a.
A worldview, uh, helps themlive in the real world.
You have to have some way ofunderstanding and living in the
world.
Where does it come from?
Where do these ideas come fromthat shape our worldview?
And they come from um theculture around us.
(29:49):
We absorb it culturally and,you know, from our youngest ages
we get the these ideas andassumptions from our parents,
from our friends, just from theworld, us, just from observing
the way people act and do things, and that shapes our worldview.
Often, those assumptions.
Then we carry those the rest ofour lives.
They may not even be somethingthat we're even aware of, we
(30:09):
just operate off of them.
We've never actually kind oftaken time to kind of look at
them individually and go do Ireally believe that we just kind
of operate off of them.
It was Aristotle that said theunexamined life is not worth
living.
It's this idea that we've gotall these assumptions about
reality, but most of us havenever even thought about it.
You know, we just kind offunction off of it.
But the first point is that weare all shaped by our culture,
(30:34):
profoundly, you know, especiallyby those most basic
relationships, from the timethat we're born.
Video Narrator (30:39):
Yeah, uh, just as far as this flow of ideas
goes, uh, tim, you helped mecreate a graphic this week
explaining how the theconversation right now in the U
S.
One of the conversations beingtossed around is the one around
DEI, diversity, equity,inclusion.
Tim Williams (30:54):
Uh, how did that idea start and how did that idea
end up today being somethingall of us understand to a basic
amount, and are talking aboutputting you on the spot here
yeah, um, uh, I mean thatconversation is especially
scott's baby, but I'm gonna, I'mgonna take some stabs at it and
then we can kind of hand itover to him for some support.
But you know, um, again, justkind of walking through the flow
(31:17):
of ideas, right, I mean likethere's there's carl marx and
there's.
You know again, just kind ofwalking through the flow of
ideas, right, I mean likethere's there's Karl Marx and
there's, you know, universitythinking and educational
(31:39):
institutions, and then you knowthat flows out, these create,
and you know, at that level,these kind of key principles
kind of become like well, beingcolorblind is is vector of
oppression.
Moving on from those principles, you get into policies, and
(32:02):
that's where we kind of got intothese diversity, equity and
inclusion policies and laws, andthis begins to go into human
resource departments and the way, you know, everybody in
institutions begins to operate.
And then, finally, you just getinto the, the day-to-day
practice of how does how doesthis then play out for people's
(32:26):
lives?
And you see that you know, atthe level of like, hiring it's
not based on, it's not based onmerit, it's not based on
qualifications and what you earnit's based on are you part of a
group that maybe washistorically considered to be
(32:47):
oppressed, and a minority, andyou know.
So that's one practice thatjust kind of gets into the
day-to-day but people don'talways analyze.
Then where did it come from?
You know, it came all the wayback here, and is the thinking
that got us here to this?
Is that clear and usefulthinking?
(33:13):
Or how does it contrastterribly with my actual beliefs
and thinking?
Because it can use a lot of thesame language in a very
convincing and emotional way.
Scott Allen (33:20):
Yeah, a couple of things, tim, on that.
You know we experience thesethings at the level of policies.
They might affect us or wemight be part of organizations
where these policies are putinto practice and they shape the
way we think.
But they like DEI, but we don't.
You know, we don't often thinkwhere did it come from?
And it does have its source in aworldview.
And in this case, you know,this worldview had its source
(33:43):
with Karl Marx.
And you know, even more broadlythan that, I mean, marx's big
idea wasn't really his own.
It's that there is no God.
Okay, everything evolved in ahaphazard and random fashion.
There is no God that makessense of the world, and so
everything has to be understoodseparate from God.
And the way that he then kindof understood that was that.
(34:07):
You know, humans organizethemselves into groups based on
various, you know, factors.
It could be wealth, or it couldbe, you know, the fact that
they're workers, or you knowmiddle class class or
impoverished groups, or it couldbe based on skin color or sex.
People organize themselves intogroups and the groups define
them and those groups are pittedagainst each other because in
(34:29):
Marx's worldview all that existsis power and kind of domination
.
It's a very dark worldview.
So you know, somebody is goingto be on top and dominating or
oppressing somebody else fortheir own selfish advantage.
That's the basic idea of Marx'sworldview.
You have to understand that,you know.
So that was the basic yeah, thebasic assumption.
(34:51):
Go ahead, john.
John Bottimore (34:52):
And it's a zero-sum thinking.
Scott Allen (34:54):
Zero-sum.
Yeah, there is no win-win here,right.
John Bottimore (34:56):
Yeah, not to be true in real life, in economics
and in other fields.
Taking us back to this sectionof the video, that these beliefs
are acquired and assumed andScott, you touched on this is
most of us don't challenge them,most of us don't question them.
We go through education,they're reinforced all the way
up to the university level andsuch, and so, just as a preview
(35:23):
of coming attractions as we goon here, the only way that we're
really going to be able tochallenge these is when our
minds are transformed, by therenewing of our minds, and only
with a biblical worldview can wedo that.
Otherwise, we accept theseviews and beliefs and buy into
the actions that they lead to,which do not lead to ultimate
(35:45):
flourishing andother-centeredness in the world.
Tim Williams (35:49):
Yeah, I would say just either people, when it
comes to policies, right Likepeople either are super focused
on policies and that's wherethey spend all of their time and
attention, thinking that that'swhere culture is going to
transform.
Scott Allen (36:00):
If we can change this policy Exactly Law or they
say we don't need to mess withpolicies at all.
Tim Williams (36:06):
And you know it's, it's part of the picture, it's
an important part of the pictureand it's not the whole picture.
Video Narrator (36:13):
That's so well said All right, guys, back to
the video.
The question on the screenright now says why does this all
matter?
That's a very importantquestion, one that I asked many
times after going to theconferences, going to church and
hearing people talk about abiblical worldview.
So I'd be like, all right,sounds interesting.
But then you leave the buildingand you kind of forget about it
.
Okay, why does this all matter?
Later on in the video you'llsee the statement that
(36:35):
essentially says as Christians,our job description, you could
say, is to go and make disciplesof all nations.
That's something we're allcalled to the Great Commission.
You can't do that without abiblical worldview,
understanding it and living itout.
So, in short, that's why weneed to keep watching this video
.
Luke Allen (36:52):
Because worldview shapes everything we think and
do, and what we do shapes theworld around us.
It turns out.
Nothing is more practical andmore central than worldview.
We can think of our worldviewlike the roots of a tree
underground and hidden fromsight.
The trunk represents our values.
(37:13):
The branches are behaviors andactions.
Our behaviors and actions inturn shape our lives and the
world around us.
This is the fruit.
John Bottimore (37:25):
Yeah, that's really the important thing here.
The bitter fruit is notsomething that just happens to
itself out in the weather.
The bitter fruit is because ofbitter roots, so that's why it's
so important to to have ourroots and foundations right.
Video Narrator (37:41):
Yeah, yeah, as you guys uh have probably
noticed our logo here on thepodcast ideas have consequences
starts with a tree, and this isthe exact same tree that we're
talking about here is ideas haveconsequences.
The ideas affecting theworldview level are going to
eventually result in the fruitthe bitter fruit or the healthy
fruit that produces a life livedthe way God wants us to.
(38:01):
But it all starts back with theideas and the roots, so we use
this tree analogy all the time.
If you have been a DNA followerfor a while, you started this
section, luke, with the.
Tim Williams (38:12):
it had a question on the screen why does all this
matter?
I mean, dna got a lot of itsstart working with people around
the world and developingcountries where there was just
tremendous poverty and therewere believers, and it was like
you know, what is it about this?
And we found, you know, thatworldview was essential in
(38:34):
addressing and helping peoplemove from a culture that created
poverty unintentionally and aculture that created pain
unintentionally to a worldviewthat cultivated life and
flourishing and healthy familiesand healthy individuals and
healthy churches.
Who healthy individuals andhealthy churches who see and
(39:01):
understand the world in acomprehensive way, formed by the
Bible.
And so why does it all matter?
Because God doesn't want hispeople to live unnecessarily in
pain and suffering.
He wants them to realize theirown dignity and opportunity to
live the purpose-filled livesthat he's called them to.
Scott Allen (39:18):
I just want to add something to what you said, tim.
It's really important.
You know, when we started atthe DNA, you know we were
working in communities incontext of extreme poverty, a
lot of corruption, brokenness,high infant mortality just a lot
of bitter, bad fruit.
And you made the point thatthere were Christians, and it's
true.
Not only were there Christians,the church was growing rapidly
(39:39):
and that was really the tensionthat people felt.
How is it that the church ishere, present, and yet we still
have all of this bitter fruit inour culture?
Something's wrong, and here'sthe answer.
It's that you can actually makethis error, and the evangelical
church has done this.
You can say we don't have to goand deal with these issues of
worldview.
We just have to get peoplesaved, give them the gospel
(39:59):
message, have them raise theirhand yes, I accept Jesus as my
Lord and Savior.
But then everything about theirworldview that's giving rise to
all this bitter fruit remainsuntouched, and that's what we've
done all over the world, sadly.
So you've got Christians.
In a place like Guatemala,let's say, for example, lots of
them.
It's one of the fastest-growingchurches in the West Lots of
(40:22):
people in church on Sunday, buttheir worldview is still very
deeply shaped by kind of falseanimistic assumptions that give
rise to all sorts of brokennessand poverty.
Why?
Because missionaries that wentdidn't set out to change
worldview.
They didn't, you know.
They just wanted to see handsraised and churches planted.
Good.
But you've got to go down tothe level of worldview.
(40:42):
There's something deeply wrongAgain.
If this doesn't become aculture and it doesn't bear good
fruit, something's deeply wrongwith our understanding of
mission.
So that's really why we weexist at.
The DNA is to correct thatproblem.
Video Narrator (40:54):
Exactly, yeah, yeah, we exist at.
The DNA is to correct thatproblem.
Exactly, yeah, yeah.
And one of the root issuesthere is that a lot of people
assume that when you become aChristian, you automatically get
a medical degree.
You automatically.
Scott Allen (41:02):
It all automatically changes and it
does not.
Video Narrator (41:04):
It has to be.
Scott Allen (41:05):
Your roots are still yeah yeah, that deep
worldview that you got from thetime you were a kid.
Tim Williams (41:09):
It doesn't automatically all just change
overnight, so you see, on theother side of the spectrum,
people who just go and they, youknow, do very well, they bring
clean water or something, butyou know they also aren't
operating at the level ofworldview.
And what we've seen at DNA is,you know, when we address things
at the worldview level, thepeople themselves take ownership
(41:33):
to bring about and identify thestrategic changes that they
need to make.
Scott Allen (41:37):
Yeah, if you can get down to that level of
worldview change, theythemselves right when they
function according to realities.
God created it, you know.
That's the key to bringingabout the flourishing right.
John Bottimore (41:47):
It's a lasting change.
Scott Allen (41:48):
Yep.
Video Narrator (41:50):
All right, let's keep going.
Luke Allen (41:51):
Sadly, the world around us is filled with bitter
fruit.
This is unacceptable.
As Christians we are called togive ourselves to change the
world for the better.
But in order to change thefruit, we have to change the
root.
Genuine social transformationrequires a change of culture, a
(42:11):
change of worldview.
Video Narrator (42:13):
All right, that's pretty much what we were
just talking about.
That's what we were justtalking about exactly.
Yeah, you know, and again thisis an error.
Scott Allen (42:20):
We go into a situation, a culture, let's say,
and we go, wow, this is reallyhorrible that this fruit exists.
Let's just change the fruit.
Let's swap out the apples forthe oranges.
No, that doesn't do any good ifthe root is still an apple.
You know, just pasting on anorange isn't going to change
things.
You've got to actually go downall the way to the level of
those roots and change at thatlevel.
Video Narrator (42:43):
Exactly Yep, okay.
Luke Allen (42:45):
And this change must start with us.
The Bible speaks of this inmany ways.
We are admonished to think withthe mind of Christ, to take
captive every thought, to makeit obedient to Christ, to be
transformed by the renewing ofour minds.
And sure we are to think andact differently.
Video Narrator (43:09):
I'll definitely include this in the show notes
for you guys.
But on our website,disciplenationsorg, there's a
page called Our Strategy and itkind of explains what we're
talking about here is how we'rethe Disciple Nations Alliance
strong connection there to theGreat Commission go and make
disciples of all nations again,how do you do that?
Like we're saying here, thisall starts with God and God
(43:29):
transforming our minds throughthe regeneration of his spirit
at conversion, so you become aChristian.
Then what?
Well, then you need totransform your mind again.
Like we were saying, you can'tjust keep living with this
bitter fruit.
So you got to drive back to thatworldview level and once your
worldview changes, it'sobviously going to change the
way you think and the way yousee the world your worldview,
right and then that's going toaffect your actions.
(43:51):
So it's going to affect the wayyou're living your life and, of
course, anyone around you willnotice that your life is looking
differently.
So your worldview is going toaffect them.
It moves on from there, fromlike your close friends and your
family, to your society, as itaffects you and your friends,
and it's going to affect yoursociety, community, city, and
that's how you disciple nations.
It all starts.
It all starts that way.
(44:11):
So again, I'll share that.
Our strategy document that hasthat essentially explained in
more depth.
So any thoughts here on thislast segment?
Scott Allen (44:20):
No, it's just that I think God wants to see the
world transformed.
There is a true worldview.
It's the one that aligns withthe world as it exists and with
God as the creator of this world, and that we can know that
truth because God's revealed itto us, he's revealed it in the
creation, he's revealed itthrough his word, and we can
have that power of enlightenmentthrough the Holy Spirit.
And you know we are not eventhough we're deeply shaped by
(44:44):
false worldviews and thecultures around us.
We can have our minds renewedand transformed.
And that's actually as it sayshere the beginning of this
process of transformation has tostart with us.
Video Narrator (44:53):
Exactly, and we'll keep learning about that
here in this next segment.
Luke Allen (44:57):
In short, we are to think and act differently, not
according to the beliefs, valuesand norms of our surrounding
culture, but according toreality as presented in God's
Word and the culture of God'skingdom.
This worldview transformationdoesn't happen automatically.
It must be intentional and ittakes time, often years.
(45:20):
This is because we areprofoundly shaped by our
surrounding culture, yet we arenot imprisoned within it, nor
are we defined by it.
God has given us all we need tobe transformed by the renewing
of our minds.
He has given us His Word, HisHoly Spirit and the Spirit of
Truth who guides us into alltruth, and brothers and sisters
(45:44):
in Christ to walk and learn withus.
But we must decide to take thefirst step.
In order to transform the world, we have to be transformed
ourselves, and this begins atthe level of worldview.
Video Narrator (46:01):
All right, I guess there was a lot there in
the last segment.
I probably should have brokenthat up into two chunks, but
yeah, this is practical we'retalking about here.
This is not, this is not theory.
Again, this is this is going toaffect your life.
This is going to affect the wayyou look at everything,
everything from sports to food,to what kind of car you buy,
like the biblical worldviewaffects everything and it's not
(46:24):
automatic like it said there,and in fact it's not just not
automatic, but this is anupstream battle.
You know, I always think oflike kayaking in a river and
we're going upstream here withthe biblical worldview thing
because we live in a fallenworld, a world affected by sin,
and constantly that's gonnawanna pull us towards our
fleshly kind of desires and theworldly desires.
But we have to keep on pushingagainst that as we work towards
(46:46):
this.
It's all part of thesanctification process, but it's
not easy, but we can do it.
Scott Allen (46:51):
No, and I think the key thing that's said here is
that it has to be intentional.
And I think this is where thechurch has really struggled.
There hasn't been thisintentional effort to disciple
new believers at the level ofworldview.
And it's kind of like we'rehappy when people accept Christ,
get baptized and yes, we arebut if there's no intentional
(47:11):
effort to disciple them, theyhave a worldview and it's shaped
by the culture around them.
In the West that's a verymaterialistic, very
individualistic.
In the West that's a verymaterialistic, very
individualistic, selfish kind ofculture.
That's the way they think right, and it's possible to be a
believer and still have thatworldview kind of functioning in
the background unless there'sthis intentional effort to
(47:33):
disciple at the level ofworldview and challenge those
basic assumptions and reallyhave that renewing of the mind.
And I think we just have to doso much better at this.
We just haven't done, wehaven't set out to do it largely
.
So this is part of the reason,I think you know.
We say how is it that we haveso many Christians, a country
like the United States, so manychurches, and yet the culture is
(47:54):
so deeply shaped by thesenon-Christian ideologies, our
institutions?
How is that?
Well, it's because we haven'teven set ourselves out to
disciple ourselves at the levelof worldview and then live it
out in a way that shapes aculture.
It just hasn't been on ourradar to do that.
You know, we've let otherpeople do that.
John Bottimore (48:11):
I agree with what Luke said earlier.
Well said, this is part of oursanctification and this is part
of what I'll call the church'ssanctification to really
understand this, to thinkdifferently, to act differently,
to act with courage, to actwith obedience to what scripture
teaches us, and we see thebeautiful fruit of that in
flourishing society.
(48:32):
So it's a long walk, anobedient and courageous walk in
our lives, both individually andin churches, and it's our role,
obviously, to seek to influenceand contribute to the churches
(48:53):
we attend so that this kind offruit will ultimately ensue both
in the church and through thechurch, and in our communities
and nations.
Tim Williams (48:57):
Yeah, I think if I had kind of a concluding
thought, it's you know, I meanwhy?
Or question, followed bythought why is the church right
now, you know, especially in theUnited States ineffective in
this?
And I do think that it isbecause of some of these deep
ideas that we've assumed.
You know that what reallymatters is this spiritual
(49:20):
reality.
What really matters is thisspiritual reality, and so we
need to focus on the, you know,saving of souls and being in
church and tithing and spiritualdisciplines, reading our Bibles
.
But you know how we show up atwork, you know how we manage our
families, how we interact incommunities.
The policies, like those thingsaren't spiritual and they
operate at a lower and lessimportant level.
(49:43):
I don't think that's true orreal at all in God's reality as
lived out in our daily lives.
Video Narrator (49:54):
Yeah, it's kind of a yeah, like you're saying
there.
It's that sacred-secular split.
It's a wrong view ofdiscipleship also, I would say,
and the fact that we think ofdiscipleship as something we do
when we're at our small group orour Bible study or when we're
reading the Word.
Discipleship should affecteverything.
I like what this video sayshere, and it says we are to be
(50:16):
ambassadors of God's kingdom,representing his culture, the
culture of God's kingdom, tothis world.
That statement right there,that's how you disciple the
nations, and it's also astatement that's hotly contested
right now.
I would say, in a time ofcultural relativism, how dare
you say that you're going toinfluence someone else's culture
(50:37):
?
Right, we should leave culturesbe and let them each be their
own thing, because they're allvirtuous in their own way.
Right, that's culturalrelativism.
We're saying cultures are great, but there is a way, like we
said earlier, there's a way tolive in this world.
There's only one way to live init, and it's the way God laid
out for us.
So, again, that's the cultureof God's kingdom that we're
(50:57):
supposed to be representing here.
John Bottimore (50:59):
That's right.
They're universal measures andelements of flourishing that all
cultures appreciate and seek.
Sometimes they're done indifferent ways and such, but
these general principles,through scripture, are lead to
flourishing in all societies,regardless of the cultural
differences 100%, yeah.
Video Narrator (51:19):
So again, guys, this video, it's on YouTube,
you can.
It's on youtube, you can findit there.
You can find it on our website.
It's soon going to become partof our new overall basics course
at the disciple nationsalliance for anyone that wants
to learn about how to discipletheir nation, how to understand
a biblical worldview and livethat out in a way that affects
all areas of their life.
That course will be coming out.
(51:40):
I can't give you guys a dateyet, but it'll be coming out
somewhat soon.
For now, I would recommend justgoing and looking at this video
on YouTube, like it, share it,subscribe to our channel if you
feel like it.
This video, I think, is greatfor discussions like this.
If you want to bring it to yoursmall group.
A Bible study, I think, can bereally useful in that context.
Any context, any final thoughtsfrom you guys?
(52:00):
John Tim.
John Bottimore (52:02):
Only that I enjoyed doing this and again, it
is very much the foundation andthe root of how we need to be
thinking, both as individualsand as the church.
When we get this right, ourgracious Lord takes us, you know
, a long way to other thingsbeing right.
So the fruit starts at the root, as we've said, and it's just
(52:24):
so great to know that, and it'shis work.
As long as we're obedient tohim, Exactly, yep, it all starts
with him.
Video Narrator (52:31):
It's good to keep that in mind.
All right, dad, over to you.
Scott Allen (52:35):
Well, thanks again, guys.
What a great discussion.
Thank you for leading us, Luke,and for all of our listeners,
thank you.
Thank you for leading us, Luke,and for all of our listeners.
Thank you for listening toanother episode of Ideas have
Consequences.
This is the podcast of theDisciple Nations Alliance.
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